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Exclusive: Why Shane Helms Doesn't Show Off His Amateur Background As The Hurricane

Shane "Hurricane" Helms has a pretty extensive amateur background, but fans don't see it much when he dawns the cape.

Shane Helms (or Gregory Helms as some might remember him as) was a smaller guy when he started out in WCW. He was moved over to WWE at the time WCW was purchased and at first, he failed to gain much steam. Then the character "The Hurricane" was developed and he became increasingly popular for his back-and-forth segments with The Rock and his superhero gimmick that wasn't actually all that heroic. He was a hit with kids and an enjoyable part of WWE programming each week. But, at no time did WWE ever focus on his background as an amateur wrestler or his love of MMA. In fact, if you look him up, there's not much to find on that subject. Helms says there's a good reason for that.

During an exclusive interview with TheSportster, Helms brought up the fact that he had an amateur wrestling background. While he didn't dig too deeply into what that included, he did say, it was never really on the table in terms of a storyline idea in WWE. Helms explained:

"It was something I used sporadically. You can see it in my Sugar Shane style and my Gregory Helms style. But I was just more popular as the Hurricane, and I had to wrestle a little differently to make that character work. We had Kurt Angle on the roster, so I didn’t really need to do a lot of the amateur stuff, but we didn’t have anybody who could do the comedy like I did and that’s what made me stand out, so that’s what I went with."

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That makes a lot of sense. It would be odd for the Hurricane to be using amateur wrestling moves on his opponents when the idea is that he's something other than a normal wrestler —one with powers that are unique. To make a character successful, a performer has to understand the nuances that might make sense and avoid those that don't.

Via ROH

Still, in wrestling having an amateur background is a useful asset. You see that some of the most popular Superstars of today have extensive training in different styles. From Ronda Rousey to Brock Lesnar, and Bobby Lashley. Even in Ring of Honor, wrestlers like Cody Rhodes and Dalton Castle have extensive backgrounds in that field.

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Speaking of Ring of Honor, Helms will make his debut in the promotion on June 15, 2018, in San Antonio, Texas, when he teams with Cheeseburger and Delirious to take on Bully Ray, Punishment Martinez, and Shane Taylor. He'll make another appearance on June 16, 2018, in Dallas, Texas, when he teams with Delirious again to face Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian, and on June 30, 2018, he’ll appear at ROH’s show in Fairfax Virginia.